Reuters: NTSB'S HERSMAN SAYS SINGLE CELL IN BATTERY HAS MULTIPLE SIGNS OF SHORT CIRCUITING

Reuters: HERSMAN SAYS DECISION TO RETURN 787 TO FLIGHT WILL BE MADE BY FAA, NOT NTSB

Reuters: US NTSB HEAD HERSMAN SAYS SAFETY REGULATORS HAVE "LONG ROAD AHEAD OF US" ON PROBE OF BOEING'S 787 DREAMLINER

US NTSB studying certification of batteries on Boeing's 787

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. safety regulators are studying the certification process for the lithium ion battery on Boeing Co's 787 Dreamliner, after finding that short circuits in batteries can cascade to other cells, causing smoke and fire.

National Transportation Safety Board head Deborah Hersman told a press conference on Thursday that the agency will issue an "interim factual report" in 30 days, but said the decision to return the 787 to flight will be made by the Federal Aviation Administration.

The 50 Dreamliners in service have been grounded since Jan. 16 while the NTSB, FAA and other aviation regulators around the world investigate the battery failures.

Reuters: HERSMAN SAYS WORKING CLOSELY WITH JAPANESE COUNTERPARTS IN PARALLEL INVESTIGATION OF JAPAN INCIDENT

Reuters: HERSMAN SAYS FAA WOULD CONSIDER ANY CHANGES BOEING PROPOSES TO BATTERY DESIGN

Earlier today, Cleveland kidnap victim Amanda Berry arrived at family home

Amanda Berry, free less than two days from a decade of captivity with two other women in a Cleveland house, arrived on Wednesday at her sister's home, where her family pleaded for privacy.

Berry, 27, had been expected to make a statement, but she did not. She and her 6-year-old daughter, who was conceived and born in captivity, could be seen from an aerial television camera returning to her sister's house in a convoy of vehicles and going in the back door.

Police released some details about the search of the house where the women were held, including the discovery of chains and ropes police said were used to tie up the victims. Police said no human remains were found.

Three brothers identified by police as the suspects were expected to be charged by the end of the day, police said.

One suspect, Ariel Castro, 52, who was fired from his school bus driving job in November for "lack of judgment," was arrested almost immediately after the women escaped on Monday.

Continue reading: Amanda Berry returns home

Three space station astronauts headed back to Earth

The first Canadian astronaut to command the International Space Station headed back to Earth with two crewmates on Monday, wrapping up a five-month mission aboard the orbital outpost.

Space station commander Chris Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko strapped themselves inside a Russian Soyuz capsule on Monday and departed the station shortly after 7 p.m. EDT (2308 GMT) as the ships sailed 255 miles (410 km) over eastern Mongolia.

"It's just been an extremely fulfilling and amazing experience," Hadfield radioed to flight controllers earlier on Monday.

The mission included an impromptu spacewalk on Saturday to fix an ammonia coolant leak that had cropped up two days earlier. Without the repair, NASA likely would have had to cut back the station's ongoing science experiments to save power. The cooling system dissipates heat from electronics on the station's solar-powered wing panels.

During a 5-1/2-hour spacewalk, Marshburn and crewmate Chris Cassidy, who remains aboard the station, replaced a suspect ammonia coolant pump, apparently resolving the leak. Engineers will continue to monitor the system for several weeks to make sure there are no additional problems.

Hadfield made history on Monday when he released the first music video shot in space, turning an astronaut into an overnight music sensation with his zero-gravity version of David Bowie's hit "Space Oddity.

Hadfield, Marshburn and Romanenko, who blasted off 146 days ago, are due to parachute to a landing in Kazakhstan at 10:31 p.m. EDT (0231 GMT Tuesday). Their mission was the 35th expedition aboard the space station, a permanently staffed, $100 billion laboratory for biomedical, materials science, technology demonstrations and other research.

Their replacements are due to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on May 28. Until then, a skeleton crew commanded by Pavel Vinogradov and including NASA astronaut Cassidy and cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin will keep the station operating.

The crew's return to Earth comes on the 40th anniversary of the launch of the first U.S. space station, Skylab. Three crews lived and worked on the relatively short-lived Skylab between May 1973 and February 1974. The project helped NASA prepare for in-flight research aboard the space shuttles and the International Space Station, which was constructed in orbit beginning in 1998.

The outpost, which is scheduled to remain in orbit until at least 2020, has been permanently staffed since November 2000.

(Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Eric Beech)

MT @jpmajor: The #Soyuz capsule will experience ext. temps of 2500 ºF as it reenters the atmosphere. Watch live now: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

RT @Astro_Jeremy: Deceleration will start slow but build to approx 4x force of gravity for nominal entry.Like 4 people sitting on your ches…

MT @astro_wheels The capsule will begin a stabilizing spin & the heat shield will precess into the velocity vector. #FoodForTheGeeksOutThere

RT @howellspace: Robert Thirsk now describing the steps of the landing. "Working on their breathing" he says of high G forces.

MT @astron8: The #Soyuz crew is comprised of astronauts from three nations. We accomplish great things together in space! #TMA07M #Exp35